tagabungtod

Mao ni’y dagway sa atong 50 years old nga munisipyo karon. Pink!!! Pink nga hagdanan!!! Ingon ani ba kaha ang dalan pasaka sa langit? Pink nga hagdanan? Stairway to heaven. Murag color sa gulaman. And look a little closer: Pink!!! Pink nga mga poste!!! Peste!

After this building was constructed, the image that has been permanently etched in my mind was always of a whitewashed municipal building. Ambot. Nahutdan siguro'g pinturang puti ang Nabunturan. Pink pa gyud......ug gituyo ni, nganong dili na man lang violet.....o electric blue ba kaha!

Did you know that once upon a time, some political retard named the building “WHITE HOUSE”?! No joke! It was emblazoned in bold black letters right where it now reads in the picture: “Municipality of Nabunturan” (he was probably the same guy who named our main street Hot River Avenue sa kaniadto. We did have village idiots and they were voted into office! More to follow.) Maayo gani duha ka tuig lang and iyang termino. Gipa-erase ug dali-dali ni kanhi mayor Prospero S. Amatong tong "WHITE HOUSE" as soon as he assumed office for the first time.

During the late '40s to the early '50s, the first municipal building---made of inak-ak---was at the back of the Espinos sa may crossing. It is now known as Purok 2, the biggest of 19 puroks in the poblacion. It was to be the first temporary home of my father when he first came to Nabunturan in 1947. In the mid '50s the munisipyo was later transferred to a building owned by Dr. Gonzalo dela Paz (natung-an ni Secuya ug ni Pahate). The building became his private clinic after the present municipal building was completed.

Did you ever notice that the municipal building is beautifully perched on a low hill? The family of Mariano O. Fuentes, who once served as the town’s chief of police and later as municipal secretary donated this two-hectare property to the local government during the '50s to support the efforts of then mayor Lauro C. Arabejo to create a new municipality out of Nabunturan. One of the prerequisites for the creation of a municipality, then as now, is a piece of land where the municipal building will be erected. Officially, Nabunturan became a municipality on July 23, 1957.

Former mayor Antonio Tulio* once told me, that when he became mayor, together with his vice-mayor, Gregorio E. Echavez, they wanted that expanse of land, which stretches from the street fronting the present municipal building, going all the way to the national highway, to be acquired by the municipal government. It was not so difficult to do at the time because most lands in Nabunturan did not have clear ownership and there werenot so many settlers then. With the help of the local government, these claimants or occupants could have easily been persuaded to transfer elsewhere as unclaimed lands were still plentiful in the town.

Their vision? --to build a municipal park that runs from the munisipyo to the highway. An unobstructed view of the municipal building on top of the hill would have been a beautiful and magnificent sight from the national highway. Gwapo unta no? Kung natuman pa tong ilang gihandum, makita unta karon gikan sa highway ang pink nga hagdanan ug pink nga mga poste. Lingaw.

The turn of political events did not favor the “visionaries” and during the early ‘60s, a cadastral court presided by CFI Judge Jose Cusi was set up in Nabunturan. So lands---which included that which they wanted to become a park--- were distributed and awarded to claimants. Except for that small portion right in front of the municipal building which former mayor Joel O. Bugas developed, hasta karon walay park ang Nabunturan nga capital town man unta sa bag-ong probinsya.



*P.S. When Nong Tony had some financial success in logging, he tasked and funded his friend, Ireneo Salarda to convert his 4-hectare property in Nabunturan into a private park. Salarda was a former schoolteacher who was responsible during the early ‘70s for making the Sto. Niño (Kao) Elementary School win a national award for having the most beautiful barangay school grounds in the entire country.

This park, which Salarda slowly developed through the years, was fondly known as Tulio’s Park. And Nong Tony generously shared it for the tagabungtod to visit and enjoy. Unfortunately, the slump in the logging industry later caused him severe financial distress from which he never recovered. He was forced to sell the property later on. After that the only park that the tagabungtod ever came to know was no more.